BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho tribes want the Legislature to tell counties to quit taxing tribal government land on the state's reservations.
Helo Hancock, a lobbyist for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe in northern Idaho, told the House Revenue and Taxation Committee Monday the issue first arose in 2006.
Then, Idaho tribes received a "flurry of assessments" on land that had once been homesteaded, but later re-acquired by tribal governments.
Hancock says land owned by tribal governments should be treated the same way as county-, state- and federal land and exempted from property taxes.
He says the Coeur d'Alene Tribe has failed to work out a solution with Kootenai and Benewah counties, so far, so it wants legislators to intervene.
The total at stake is about $303,000 in assessments annually, for all five Idaho tribes.